TV miniseries producer Dan Curtis, March 27

AP/ Dan Curtis Productions

TV miniseries producer Dan Curtis, March 27 Dan Curtis, whose battle to make two Emmy-winning World War II miniseries, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, lasted years longer than the war the epics were based on, died Monday, March 27, 2006, at his Brentwood, Calif., home. Curtis, 78, also created the offbeat daytime 1960s soap opera Dark Shadows that became a pop culture touchstone. When The Winds of War, a 16-hour, $40-million dramatization of the beginning of World War II, aired in February 1983, it was one of the most-watched miniseries of all time, drawing 140 million viewers. Curtis was opposed to adapting a second Herman Wouk novel that picked up the story of the war after Pearl Harbor. He relented though and when War and Remembrance began airing in 1988, the 30-hour, $104-million production was the biggest, longest and most expensive project in TV history. It drew 40 million viewers.

TV miniseries producer Dan Curtis, March 27 Dan Curtis, whose battle to make two Emmy-winning World War II miniseries, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, lasted years longer than the war the epics were based on, died Monday, March 27, 2006, at his Brentwood, Calif., home. Curtis, 78, also created the offbeat daytime 1960s soap opera Dark Shadows that became a pop culture touchstone. When The Winds of War, a 16-hour, $40-million dramatization of the beginning of World War II, aired in February 1983, it was one of the most-watched miniseries of all time, drawing 140 million viewers. Curtis was opposed to adapting a second Herman Wouk novel that picked up the story of the war after Pearl Harbor. He relented though and when War and Remembrance began airing in 1988, the 30-hour, $104-million production was the biggest, longest and most expensive project in TV history. It drew 40 million viewers. (AP/ Dan Curtis Productions)

TV miniseries producer Dan Curtis, March 27 Dan Curtis, whose battle to make two Emmy-winning World War II miniseries, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, lasted years longer than the war the epics were based on, died Monday, March 27, 2006, at his Brentwood, Calif., home. Curtis, 78, also created the offbeat daytime 1960s soap opera Dark Shadows that became a pop culture touchstone. When The Winds of War, a 16-hour, $40-million dramatization of the beginning of World War II, aired in February 1983, it was one of the most-watched miniseries of all time, drawing 140 million viewers. Curtis was opposed to adapting a second Herman Wouk novel that picked up the story of the war after Pearl Harbor. He relented though and when War and Remembrance began airing in 1988, the 30-hour, $104-million production was the biggest, longest and most expensive project in TV history. It drew 40 million viewers.